Maria Hill
* Brian Michael Bendis * David Finch |alliances = * U.S. military * S.H.I.E.L.D. * Avengers * Secret Avengers |partners = Iron Man Nick Fury Captain America |powers = *Trained agent *Highly trained in weaponry *Expert marksman and mastery of various other weapons }} Commander Maria Hill ( ) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. As the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., she appears in various storylines which often feature the Avengers or members of that group. She was featured in the late 2000s "Civil War" and "Secret Invasion" miniseries, and the monthly Iron Man series, in which she was a prominent supporting character during the "Dark Reign" and "Stark Disassembled" storylines. Cobie Smulders portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). She also appears in two episodes of the first season and one episode of the second season of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Publication history Maria Hill first appeared in The New Avengers #4 (March 2005), and was created by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch. Joe Quesada, who was Marvel's editor-in-chief during her first appearance, describes the character thus: "Hill is such a strong personality, she's like a force of nature and quite frankly, while perhaps not immediately loved by all involved, she's certainly as strong and imposing a figure as Nick Fury. Right now I feel that people view her as the outsider but while I don't think she's any harsher than Fury has ever been, what's different is that we aren't quite clear about her motives." Quesada, Joe. "Joe Fridays". Newsarama. Maria Hill appeared as a supporting character in the 2010–2013 Avengers series, from issue #1 (July 2010) through its final issue, #34 (January 2013), but only appeared sporadically after the first half of its run. In 2014, Maria Hill was a regular character in Black Widow and Secret Avengers. Fictional character biography Introduction Hill, who was born in Chicago,Secret War #5 joins the United States armed forces and later becomes an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.Iron Man: World's Most Wanted The Avengers suspect Hill of being complicit in various crimes, but lack evidence to prove her malfeasance. At the same time, Hill suspects the latest incarnation of the Avengers are harboring an illicit agenda in connection with the "House of M" affair. She abducts Spider-Man and the Vision to question them about the situation.New Avengers Vol 1 #19. Marvel Comics. She earns Iron Man's respect when she ignores the President's orders to nuke an island while the Avengers are on it.New Avengers Vol 1 #20. Marvel Comics. "Civil War" In the 2006–2007 storyline "Civil War", Captain America refuses to assist Commander Hill in preparations to arrest any superheroes who refuse to comply with the Superhuman Registration Act, seeing such activity as politically motivated, but Hill, arguing that Captain America must obey the will of the American people, attempts to arrest him. Captain America fights his way out of the Helicarrier and escapes. After the Act passes into law, Hill is one of its leading enforcers. She blackmails Wonder Man into actively supporting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s crusade to hunt down the superheroes opposed to the Registration Act. She sends Kree supersoldier Noh-Varr, already brainwashed, to capture the Runaways. She directs the Thunderbolts to capture Spider-Man after he goes rogue. The two Thunderbolts members sent out, Jester and Jack O'Lantern, are slain by the Punisher.Punisher War Journal. Marvel Comics. After foiling an attack on Stark Tower, Hill admits to Tony Stark that she does not want her job as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and thinks she should not have been offered it in the first place. She suggests that the only other person besides Nick Fury who should lead the organization is Stark himself.New Avengers Vol 1 #25. Marvel Comics. At the conclusion of the Civil War, the President of the United States appoints Tony Stark the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., with a displeased Maria Hill his acting deputy director.Civil War #7. Marvel Comics. Deputy Director After being made Deputy Director, Maria Hill becomes a core member of Stark's S.H.I.E.L.D. cabinet and assists Stark in dealing with a sudden rise in various terrorist groups who have gained access to hyper-advanced biological weapons. Unlike the rest of the cabinet (including Sal Kennedy, whom she loathed personally), Hill remains skeptical of a single conspiracy behind all these attacks.Iron Man, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #15. Marvel Comics. When the Mandarin's neoplastic tumor began infecting the Helicarrier, Hill organizes the evacuation; she (wrongly) believed the infection is the main objective of the attack.Iron Man, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #18. Marvel Comics. Subsequently, however, Hill becomes much more trusting in Stark's leadership, a trusted agent in her role as Deputy Director, and far less bound by conventional process, particularly after a confrontation with Dum Dum Dugan, in which he forces her to confront the fact that she was apparently willing to take actions that would allow innocent people to die while still sticking to "the book" because the alternative was to disobey orders.Iron Man #26. Marvel Comics. She eventually risks her career by locking down the United Nations under S.H.I.E.L.D. martial law so Stark can escape a tribunal going against him and track down the Mandarin.Iron Man #28. Marvel Comics. 2008 – 2010 storylines During the 2008 "Secret Invasion" storyline, after the Helicarrier is disabled by Skrull invaders, Hill, who is left in charge in Stark's absence, confronts a number of extraterrestrial Skrulls, shapeshifters who can assume the appearance of anyone or anything, who are revealed to have replaced Edwin Jarvis and a number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.Secret Invasion #4. Marvel Comics. The Skrulls execute Hill, but this "Hill" is revealed to be a Life Model Decoy of Hill. Hill then activates the Helicarrier's self-destruct system, killing all the Skrull infiltrators on board, escaping via jet pack.Secret Invasion #5. Marvel Comics. In the aftermath of the Skrull Invasion's failure, during the "Dark Reign" storyline, S.H.I.E.L.D is disbanded by the President, and Hill and Tony Stark lose their jobs, replaced by the newly appointed director Norman Osborn who then reforms the fallen S.H.I.E.L.D. into H.A.M.M.E.R.Secret Invasion #8. Marvel Comics. In the Iron Man monthly series, Hill tries to go about having a normal life but Osborn dispatches H.A.M.M.E.R. to arrest her for theft. She joins her former boss, Tony Stark, as a fugitive after he stole the Superhuman Registration Database. The night before Tony leaves the two have a sexual tryst.Fraction, Matt (w), Larocca, Salvador (a). The Invincible Iron Man Vol 5 #10. Marvel Comics. Hill is sent on a mission by Tony to retrieve a hard drive. Hill finds the Controller holed up in the basement of Futurepharm, hooked into a large machine holding many people in containers. She barely manages to escape him, before downloading the data Tony sent her for. The skirmish with the Controller would leave her in a state of paranoia for a while. She then enlists the Black Widow to deliver the data to Captain America, all the while evading H.A.M.M.E.R. agents. However, they are captured when H.A.M.M.E.R. intercepts an e-mail from Stark. They are rescued by Pepper Potts, disguised as Madame Masque.Fraction, Matt (w), Larocca, Salvador (a). Invincible Iron Man #11–18. Marvel Comics. During the 2010 "Siege" storyline, Hill comes to the aid of Thor after Osborn launches an attack on him and his home of Asgard.Siege #3. Marvel Comics. Hill becomes a supporting cast member in the Iron Man series, protecting him and his friends from multiple threats."Invincible Iron Man" #20–28 (2008–2009). Marvel Comics. In the 2010 "Heroic Age" storyline, which followed "Siege", Hill is appointed by Captain Steve Rogers to work with a new team of Avengers.Avengers vol. 4 #1. Marvel Comics. 2010 to the present Following the apparent death of Nick Fury, she was appointed commander, then acting director, and finally director of S.H.I.E.L.D. following Daisy Johnson's actions that involved the Secret Avengers invading A.I.M. Island.Secret Avengers vol. 2 #1-8. Marvel Comics. During the "Avengers: Standoff!" storyline, Hill and S.H.I.E.L.D. have established Pleasant Hill, a super villain prison designed to resemble a gated community. While working at Pleasant Hill, Maria Hill operates as the Mayor of Pleasant Hills. A training video for the S.H.I.E.L.D. cadets working there showed that she and the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists have used reality-warping technology derived from the Cosmic Cube called "Kobik" as a demonstration was used where Graviton is turned into a mild-mannered Pleasant Hill chef named Howie Howardson.Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1. Marvel Comics. When Commander Steve Rogers is brought before Maria Hill, he tells her of his knowledge that the Kobik project was not disposed of. Maria Hill presented the inhabitants of Pleasant Hill to Steve Rogers: she mentions that the citizens are reformed supervillains. When Steve Rogers demanded to know where were the fragments of Cosmic Cubes used for Kobik, she directed him to the eerie little girl who was the fragments of the Cosmic Cube that have taken the form of a near-omnipotent child.Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Alpha #1. Marvel Comics. Following the "Civil War II" storyline, Maria Hill was later seen being kidnapped by Diablo, who attempted to extract the security code clearances for all the active helicarriers and the Triskelion, when she was rescued by Victor Von Doom.Infamous Iron Man #1. Marvel Comics. Skills and abilities Maria Hill is an extremely effective commander, leader, tactician, and military strategist. She is a highly skilled martial artist and hand-to-hand fighter, as well as being a proficient marksman and armed combatant. Other versions MC2 In the world of the MC2 universe, Maria Hill is a member of the National Security Force. When a government assignment went awry a piece of the Carnage symbiote was released. The Symbiote was stopped by Spider-Girl, the daughter of Spider-Man, as she later reported the success to that world's Nick Fury. She is later seen accusing American Dream of the A-Next, for crimes against the US, as the heroine stumbles upon a government mission.American Dream #1–5. Marvel Comics. Ultimate Marvel In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Maria Hill is an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and a homicide detective currently working for the NYPD. She first appears while questioning Miles Morales about the death of Aaron Davis. This investigation led to the discovery that Spider-Man wasn't the killer as the press believed and that Aaron Davis had an accidental death when one of his weapons backfired.Ultimate Comics Spider-Man vol. 2 #15. Marvel Comics. She is the one working on the Venom case that involved a home invasion into Miles Morales' house and hurt his father. She notices that Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, Ganke, and Miles quickly went into his home. She illegally barges in, but is coy with the kids, only to be thwarted by Gwen's knowledge of law due to her deceased father, and Mary Jane recording her on her tablet. Maria definitely suspects Miles as Spider-Man. Suddenly, there is word that Venom is attacking the hospital where Miles father and mother are at. Maria yells at Miles telling him to save the citizens at the hospital. Miles scales the light post and buildings in front of Maria confirming that he is Spider-Man. In other media Television * Maria Hill appears in the animated series Iron Man: Armored Adventures, voiced by Tabitha St. Germain in a Russian accent. * Maria Hill is featured in the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Kari Wuhrer. She appears as a central member of S.H.I.E.L.D., who becomes the new director after the sudden disappearance of Nick Fury. * Maria Hill appears in the pilot episode of the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) portrayed by Cobie Smulders (who reprises her role from The Avengers). Smulders also appears in the episode "Nothing Personal" (which takes place after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier). In "The Dirty Half Dozen", Maria is revealed to still be in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D., and notifies the Avengers of Baron Strucker's location, setting the stage for Avengers: Age of Ultron. * Maria Hill appears in several episodes of Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, voiced by Akeno Watanabe. * Maria Hill appears in Avengers Assemble. In a non-speaking cameo around the end of the episode titled "The Final Showdown," Maria Hill was seen with Black Widow and Nick Fury trying to look for the dimension where Red Skull and the Tesseract disappeared to. Film as Maria Hill in The Avengers]] * Cobie Smulders plays Maria Hill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), , Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and in various episodes of the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Vancouver’s Cobie Smulders is on a roll (with video) **Smulders also portrays Maria Hill in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). ** She returned to play Hill in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). However, in the post-credits scene of ''Spider-Man: Far From Home'' it is revealed that after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Talos and his wife Soren (who are Skrulls) had switched with Fury and Maria Hill for the entirety of the film while the real Fury was in space with the rest of the Skrulls on an undisclosed mission. * Maria Hill appears in the 2013 anime film Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, voiced by Kari Wahlgren in the English dub. * Maria Hill appears in the 2014 anime film Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher voiced by Junko Minagawa in the Japanese version and reprised by Kari Wahlgren in the English dub. Video games * Maria Hill appears as an NPC in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced by Margaret Easley. * Maria Hill appears as a non-playable character in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance. She accompanied Nick Fury and Tony Stark in mission briefings. * Maria Hill appears in Marvel Heroes voiced by Kari Wührer. * Maria Hill appears as an unlockable playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Danielle Nicolet. * Maria Hill appears as an unlockable playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers, with Cobie Smulders reprising the role. * Maria Hill is a non-playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance Tactics. Live performance * Maria Hill appears in the Marvel Universe: LIVE! stage show. See also * List of S.H.I.E.L.D. members References External links * Maria Hill at Marvel.com * Category:Female characters in comics Category:Female characters in film Category:Female characters in television Category:Fictional characters from Chicago Category:Fictional women soldiers and warriors Category:Marvel Comics special forces personnel Category:Fictional spymasters Category:Marvel Comics martial artists Category:Marvel Comics television characters Category:Marvel Comics superheroes Category:Comics characters introduced in 2005 Category:Characters created by Brian Michael Bendis Category:S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Category:Marvel Comics female superheroes Category:Fictional female martial artists